1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thin film integrated circuit device equipped with a thin film integrated circuit that is flexible and paper-thin that has a memory and a microprocessor (central processing unit (CPU)); an integrated circuit (IC) label using a thin film integrated circuit device for a label; a product container including the thin film integrated circuit; and manufacturing methods thereof. The present invention further relates to management methods of the products above.
2. Description of the Related Art
In late years, the number of cards that a person owns is increasing. Every kind of information is recorded in cards and is renewed as necessary. The amount of recorded information is progressively increasing.
Such increase in the amount of information is essential in various fields. For example, in the food industry and manufacturing industry, as improvements in the product safety and the administrative structure are required, the amount of information on the products is increased accordingly. However, the current products information is exceedingly little, as a country of manufacture, a maker, a product number which are mainly provided by using bar codes containing figures of over ten columns. Further, when bar codes are used, it requires time to manually read each product.
Considering the above, a reference describes a method of managing product using networks is devised. Using this method, the information on products is transferred to stores via a server by inputting identifiers of products with a network terminal in each store. The identifiers of products are shown with two-dimensional bar codes or character strings, and are sent to a server after they are inputted into terminals in stores. The products have a detachable storage medium that holds programs and data on products, or personal information. Cards such as an IC card, a smart card, and a compact flash card are given as examples of the storage medium (Reference 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-230141).
As an alternative, a unique identification number is assigned to each food sold in retail stores, and consumers can browse materials for foods, producers, and distribution channels by accessing the Internet. In this case, required product information is provided in response to inquiries by using a server or software for processing information read by a reader/writer, thereby improving the efficiency of productivity and distribution. Thus, the versatility of systems related to RFID IC tags is expanded (Reference 1: Nikkei Electronics, Nikkei Business Publications, pp. 67-76, Nov. 18, 2002).
When the information management is performed by using bar codes according with such increase in information, the amount of information which can be provided is limited. It is inefficient spending time for reading manually, in addition to the lack of information. Further, reading errors due to the manual operation of bar code reading can not be avoided.
Concerning the above reference in particular, there are problems that consumers spend time to access the Internet and that they must have their own personal computers. Further, since the integrated circuit including a silicon wafer, which is applied to an RFID IC tags is thick that, irregularities are produced on the surface of the container, and the design is spoilt when the tag is mounted on a product container.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an integrated circuit (IC) that can store much information, which is far thinner than a conventional silicon wafer (a thin film integrated circuit) and to provide a thin film integrated circuit device having the thin film integrated circuit. It is a specific object of the present invention to equip a label (IC label) with the thin film integrated circuit, to provide a product container whose design is not spoiled, and a manufacturing method of the label and container. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a management method of the products which is loaded with the IC label.
In view of the foregoing, the present invention provides a thin film integrated circuit device (for example, IC label) equipped with an integrated circuit (IC) (thin film integrated circuit) that is thin like paper. The thin film integrated circuit according to the present invention includes a semiconductor film as an active region (for example, a thin film transistor as a channel region), unlike a conventional integrated circuit (IC) formed from a silicon wafer.
Such an IC can generally store data of around 5 kilobytes or more whereas the data that can be stored magnetically is few around dozens of bytes; the IC can save by far greater capacitance. Therefore, a large quantity of information can be provided in all area in comparison with bar codes. For example, in the case of using the thin film integrated circuit device in which a thin film integrated circuit is installed in a card, the efficiency of information management can be improved since a large quantity of information can be stored. By employing the thin film integrated circuit, a plurality of cards no longer needs to be carried and will be replaced by a single card. In addition, a thin film integrated circuit device that can rewrite information as necessary can be provided by equipping the thin film integrated circuit with a rewritable memory.
Further, most of cards are required to have advanced security and high reliability. The thin film integrated circuit has advantages that the data cannot be read unlike magnetism and that the stored data is hard to be falsified. In other words, the security of stored information can be ensured. In addition, an alert can be raised to prevent shoplifting or theft by installing the IC.
The present invention provides a label (an IC label) using the ultrathin thin film integrated circuit which does not spoil the design of a product, and a product container each equipped with the IC label.
As for a specific IC label, as shown in FIG. 6A, an IC label 15 is formed by sticking (affixing) and fixing a thin film integrated circuit 12 to the back of a label 11 that is adhered to a product 10 as typified by a bottle or a card. A thin film integrated circuit according to the present invention is by far thinner compared with an IC formed from a silicon wafer since it is formed from a semiconductor film with a thickness of around 500 nm. Therefore, the design of a product is not spoiled even when the thin film integrated circuit including a semiconductor film according to the present invention is used for a label of a product.
FIG. 6B is a cross section of the product 10 in FIG. 6A taken along the line a-a′. Shown here is a thin film integrated circuit device, specifically an IC label which is adhered and fixed to a product with an adhesive agent 14 and in which a thin film integrated circuit according to the present invention is disposed on the back of the label. Note that, when the label 11 is adhesive, the adhesive agent 14 is not necessary. FIG. 6C is a cross section of the product 10 in FIG. 6A taken along the line a-a′. Shown here is a thin film integrated circuit device, specifically an IC label which is adhered and fixed to a product and which is in a state where a thin film integrated circuit according to the present invention is sandwiched (held) between labels. Labels 11 each have an adhesive face that is in contact with a film integrated circuit and another adhesive face that is in contact with the product. When the labels are not adhesive, an adhesive agent may be used. The IC label may be completed by directly transferring the thin film integrated circuit to a product and by pasting a label thereover.
Thus, the present invention provides a thin film integrated circuit device (specifically, an IC label) having an ultrathin thin film integrated circuit and products equipped therewith. Various methods may be used to fix the thin film integrated circuit.
Such an IC label enables merchandise management such as supply management, inventory management, grip of work schedule, or grip of delivery schedule, or improvements in efficiency of distribution management such as sales channel management. Further, a large amount of information on a product, such as a material, the place of origin, a test result of each production process, or a record of distribution process can be managed and provided to consumers.
Since the thin film integrated circuit according to the present invention as described above is greatly thin, the design is not spoiled even if it is mounted to products such as cards and containers. Further, by far larger amount of information can be stored compared with bar codes and magnetism. The thin film integrated circuit according to the present invention can arbitrarily be employed for a contact IC or a contactless IC.